Something curious happened in California in January: the foreclosure process virtually ground to a halt. Specifically, as RealtyTrac describes it, the, “the downward foreclosure trend in California accelerated into hyper speed in January, decisively shifting the balance of power when it comes to the nation’s foreclosure activity”, shifting it in favor of homeowners and effectively preventing banks from sending out Notices of Default (NOD) repossessing homes whose owners no longer pay their mortgages. This was the result of the Homeowners Bill of Rights, or legislation which “extends many of the principles in the national mortgage settlement — including a prohibition on so-called dual tracking and requiring a single point of contact for borrowers facing foreclosure — to all mortgage servicers operating in California. In addition the new law imposes fines of up to $7,500 per loan for filing of multiple unverified foreclosure documents.” The outcome of this law as it propagates through the market can be seen in the chart below: in January 2013, California foreclosure starts are now down to levels not seen since 2005!